Road to Parenthood
by xox NiNjA-gIrl xox
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto were trained to be the best Ninjas of their time, but no amount of training could prepare them to be a father. Can the once upon a time obnoxious avenger and deadlast prankster cope with the pressures of parenthood? Series of one shots. Post Canon Chap 699 -700. Spoiler alert.
1. Breaking the news!

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.

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><p>Sakura looked at the kit impatiently. She counted each second in her head. 'The box says 2 minutes. Argh this has to be the longest 2 minutes in the history of mankind!' Sakura thought to herself, exasperated.<p>

It had been over 15 minutes she locked herself in the bathroom. She was just hoping Sasuke doesn't come knocking in. She shook the kit anxiously hoping it would speed up the process, but in no vain. All she could do was wait. Slowly an image started forming and it tuned into a plus sign.

She stared at the kit in disbelief. 'I'm pregnant.' She kept telling herself repeatedly. She looked at herself on the mirror. 'I'm pregnant' She repeated. Slowly a smile filled her face, 'I'M PREGNANT SHANNARO!' Her inner self said in triumph.

'shuu ' she calmed herself.

'How do I tell Sasuke – kun?' She thought to herself.

'_Just tell him you are pregnant_.' Her inner self responded.

'No that's too direct.'

'_So what? He is only going to be happy with this news._'

'Yeah still.. I have to be subtle. He won't be disappointed, but given he is Sasuke – kun I don't know how he will react.'

'_So just say you are late._'

'Yeah! That should do it. Okay.' Sakura let out a little breath, braced herself, unlocked the door and let herself out.

Sasuke was sitting by the window sill, reading his paper while he had his morning tea.

Sakura walked a little closer to him.

"Sasuke – kun.."

"hn." Sasuke said without faltering his attention from the paper.

"Sasuke – kun!" Sakura said demanding for attention.

Sasuke turned his head towards her direction and just looked at her waiting for her to continue.

"Sasuke – kun I'm …mm.." She shifted her gaze from his eyes.

"What is it Sakura?" Sasuke asked with a frown on his face, he was starting to lose patience.

The tone of his voice made her jump and she just blurted out looking at him, "I'm late!"

Sakura saw Sasuke's tense face relax. He continued to look at her without any evident expression. '_He is shocked. That's normal. He will give some sort of a reaction now_.' She waited for his response as she uneasily shifted on her spot.

"So what are you waiting for? Get going." Sasuke said and turned his attention back to the paper.

'_hhuuuh?!_' Sakura was thrown back by the reaction.

"Sasuke – kun, you don't understand. I'm late late. You know." She blushed and avoided eye contact.

"So wasting your time her telling me how late you are won't make you any less late." Sasuke said as he turned to the next page of the newspaper.

Now Sakura was starting to lose her patience. She clenched her fists. 'Calm down Sakura.' She told herself.

Sasuke turned to her as he sensed her chakra boiling up. Ever since they got wed, Sasuke, who was usually very distant to reciprocating feelings, had been working on moving past responding with just 'hn's and 'ah's.

He wasn't sure what she was getting angry about. 'Maybe this is one of those times she wants me to communicate more.'

"Sakura if being late bothers you so much maybe you should spend less time in the bathroom and hurry up and get going." He said looking at her, thinking his contribution to the topic will make her happy.

Sakura controlled her clenched fists, gritted her teeth and looked straight into his eyes, a look that could kill.

Sasuke was taken aback by the reaction. "what?" is all he could utter.

"I'M PREGNANT! I'M FUCKING PREGNANT! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW **SASUKE –KUN?**!" Sakura exploded, shaking with her hands in fury.

Sasuke froze. Not from the reaction Sakura gave, but from the words that she said. "You're…pregnant?" he asked in disbelief.

Sakura finally calmed down, she gave out a sigh and finally smiled and said. "Yes I am pregnant."

Sasuke got up and slowly walked towards her, he held her by her shoulders. "Are you serious?" He said still in shock.

"Yes Sasuke – kun." She said as she smiled benevolently as she sensed the happiness behind all that shock.

"You are having a baby…" Sasuke said finally letting a smile cross his face.

Sakura shook her head sideways, "No. WE are having a baby."

Sasuke embraced her gently, avoiding too much pressure. "We are having a baby. A Uchiha."

Sakura rubbed his back lovingly, she knew how much this meant to him. They hadn't planned this but she always knew whenever it were to happen, he would be ecstatic.

"Thank you." He whispered and withdrew himself from her and gave her a gentle kiss. "We must celebrate!" He said overjoyed, very unlike Sasuke. Sakura shook her head in agreement.

"But after you get back. You should get going, you were late weren't you?" Sasuke said.

Sakura looked at him, "Sasuke- kun" she sighed in defeat. "You are not too smart for a proclaimed genius."

Sasuke looked at her bewildered, still oblivious.

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><p><strong>A.N : Heyya! Let me just tell you, I am obsessed with Papa Sasuke! So this fiction is going to be series of one shots on how Papa Sasuke and Papa Naruto cope up with the pressures of Parenthood! I will put them amidst a lot of grueling situations, situations they must overcome without their Chidori's and Rasengan's. Kukuku ^_^<strong>

**So the story is marked as complete as these are one shots, but don't be fooled! There are many more chapters to come. I hope you liked it. Please let me know through reviews!**

**Ja ne!**

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><p><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>


	2. Like Father Like Daughter

First of all let me just say YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! A few thank you's are in order:

Thank you for the reviews **_Deguchi, Hatake Jie, notsohelpful, tsukinopen, Maelynae, IamWhatIamBaby._**

And also thank you to everyone who added "Road to Parenthood' as their Favorite Story, Story Alert.

Special thanks to _**jfoster**_ for adding me to your 'Favorite Author' list and to everyone who has added me on their alert list.

And lastly thanks to everyone who has read the story, I can see the count from the traffic graph

That being said let's move on to the next chapter.

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><p>Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.<p>

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><p><span><strong>Road to Parenthood : Like Father Like Daughter<strong>.

Naruto usually accompanied Kakashi in his Hokage endeavors as a preparation to take over in a couple of years. After which Naruto would give Sasuke the rundown of the said endeavor. While Shikamaru would be Naruto's personal advisor when he will officially takes over the title, Sasuke will always be Naruto's right hand, ironic considering Naruto lost his right hand while fighting Sasuke.

Sasuke walked slowly towards his house, it had been a long tiring day. Naruto is not the best when it comes to explaining his endeavors, so although the day wasn't physically exhausting, listening patiently to Naruto ramble on for hours without actually getting to the point drained Sasuke out mentally. He needed some time away from that blonde ball of hyper activeness.

Sasuke was steps away from his door. A smile filled his face, he could just feel his bed calling out to him. He opened the door and let himself in and shut the door gently behind him "Im home" he said to no one in particular.

He removed his shoes and called out to his daughter "Sarada I got your favorite, tangy potato chips." He said as he held out the plastic containing the food.

"YATA!" a familiar voice screamed out as he snatched the plastic from Sasuke's hand and ran past him.

"Thank you Sasuke ojisan!"

Sasuke stood there. The blonde ball has rolled over his successor straight to his house, who is bouncing straight to…SARADAS ROOM!

"Sasuke – kun?" Sakura asked as she slightly leaned her head from the kitchen so she could see who was at the door.

"You are home early." She said.

Sasuke dint respond, he was marching straight to Saradas room. As he walked past Sakura, she held his arm which made him turn over.

"Sasuke – kun…Why is your Sharigan activated." Sakura asked a little curious.

"What is he doing here?!" Sasuke asked, deactivating his Sharingan. Whenever he senses danger, it tends to activate on its own.

"Who? Bolt?" Sakura asked rhetorically.

"Yes Bolt."

Sakura let out a sigh.

"Not this again Sasuke – kun." She said and dragged him inside the kitchen. She dint want to take the chance of the kids listening to the conversation.

Sakura let go of his arm and continued to prepare dinner.

"I'm waiting." Sasuke said, impatiently.

"Naruto and Hinata needed the house to themselves. They are celebrating their anniversary today." Sakura said and smiled as she stirred the sauce with a wooden spoon.

"That doesn't answer my question."

Sakura looked at Sasuke. Did she really have to break it down to him. "So they need some privacy?"

"What for?"

"So they could play games Bolt shouldn't be witnessing." Sakura said giving out a laugh.

"What?" Sasuke asked, confused.

Sakura looked at him from over her shoulders with a raised eyebrow, he can't seriously not get this. "Dint Naruto tell you about this, Hinata said Naruto would tell you since you were with him the whole day."

Sasuke closed his eyes and gave out a sigh. He finally spoke "He must have mentioned it" He ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation "Not that I was listening."

He pulled over his poncho from over his head and placed it on the top rail of the chair. He leant back and placed his left hand on the lower cabinet for support placing his weight on them. He used his right hand fingers to massage his temples in an attempt to avoid an inevitable headache.

"But why does the kid have to be here though."

"Where else would he be?" Sakura asked as she collected some sauce in the spoon. She blew some air to cool it down and ran her finger over the spoon leaving a trail behind and tasted it. She frowned, not completely satisfied.

"Kakashi?"

"Seriously? Would any responsible parent leave their kid with a man who reads porn so freely on the street? God alone knows what not he must be doing at home." Sakura said chills running through her spine just at the thought of it.

"What about Iruka – sensei? He is pretty sane."

Hearing that Sakura placed the wooden spoon on the table with force, making Sasuke stand upright.

"And so are we!" Sakura said as she turned around and made her way towards the refrigerator. She bent down, her emerald eyes scanned around in hope of finding the missing ingredient in her sauce.

"For the love of God Sasuke – kun, you need to stop this already. We have this conversation every time Bolt comes over." She finally spotted the bottle of the missing ingredient and reached out for it. She grabbed a few more items and held them out for Sasuke to hold. He quietly complied. "And yet he comes back every time."

Sakura took a final glance and stood up and closed the door. She took back the items from his hand. "You are his Godfather for God's sake! Why did you agree to it if you have such a big problem with him?"

"As if I really had a choice." Sasuke said matter of factly.

"Yeah well so these are the consequences you must endure." Sakura said as she randomly added ingredients to the sauce.

"Yeah well the duties of a Godfather only commence if the said Father and Mother were no more. And knowing Naruto he isn't going to die anytime soon."

"If it were upto you he would have long ago." Sakura said as she amusingly looked at Sasuke. "Quite a few times actually."

"Cheap shot." Sasuke said with a straight face.

Sakura laughed at the response. "Why do you have such an issue with Bolt anyways?"

"Do you not see the resemblance?"

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Bolt is an exact replica of his father."

"Who is also your best friend."

Sasuke ignored that and continued, "And he is a boy. Sarada is our daughter, who is a girl and happens to be in the same room sharing tangy potato chips with him."

Sakura looked at him puzzled. "Sasuke – kun…they are five years old. Unless sharing chips now somehow secretly gets her pregnant in the future, I wouldn't be worried." She said and returned her attention to the persistent unperfected sauce.

"Kids now a days are not the same as we used to be Sakura!"

Sakura laughed at Sasuke childish possessive nature. Sasuke frowned at the mocking laugh.

"You know out of all the people you should understand this more. Dint Naruto trouble you at that same age when he had a crush on you?"

"Yes but I dint pay any heed to him remember? Just for argument sake, even if we were to consider your apprehension, you know as much as I do if Bolt is a replica of Naruto, Sarada is as much a replica of you. So you really need not worry."

Sasuke had to agree to that. If Sarada was anything like him, she would steer clear of his Godchild.

"Actually.." Sakura said with a tint of mischief in her voice. "If we were to go with that logic, if Bolt and Sarada are really anything like their fathers, a kiss is inevitable isn't it?" She slyly looked over at Sasuke from the corner of her eyes.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her, Sharingan activated.

Sakura gave out a nervous laugh, "Too soon?"

"There is never going to be a time for that to be funny." Sasuke said, deactivating his Sharingan. He continued, "Even though Sarada is a lot like me, that does not mean we encourage them by letting him stay here so often."

"It's just one night!"

"I'm really starting to question your decisions Sakura."

Sakura shot Sasuke a look, a look that could kill. She calmly lifted her right hand and pointed the ring finger at him. She put on a fake smile and pointed her left index finger towards her wedding ring and said "Trust me Sasuke – kun, I am questioning some of my decisions too right now."

Sasuke let out a small laugh at the gesture. Sakura let out a laugh in triumph too and got her attention back to the sauce. She repeated the procedure, she collected some sauce on her finger and licked and tasted the sauce again. She pouted getting close to admitting defeat.

Sasuke gets closer to her, dipped his finger into the pan of boiling sauce and tasted it.

"Sasuke – kun!" She said as she slapped his hand at the unhygienic gesture.

"Needs some salt." He said with a smirk as he licked his finger and strolled off sounding like an expert.

Sakura looked at him from over her shoulder "_Needs some salt_." She made a face and mimicked him. But she had to admit that was kind of hot.

Once Sakura sensed he had left the kitchen she quietly added some salt and tasted it. Perfect. She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

**xxx**

They made themselves comfortable around the dining table as Sakura placed the dishes in front of them.

Bolt looked wide eyed with a huge smile on his face as each dish was placed on the table. With chopsticks one in each hand, ready to pounce. Sarada who sat next to him, waited patiently as she looked at the food with a straight face.

Sasuke sat on the opposite side of the table facing them. He examined both their behavior. They were poles apart.

Just as Sakura placed the platter with fried prawns Bolt gave out a gasp. "Sakura oba-chan! You are the best!"

Sakura smiled at him and ruffled his hair. Sakura walked over to the other side of the table and sat next to Sasuke – kun and faced the kids.

Sarada bent over to take in the smell of the sauce. The heat made her glasses foggy. Bolt looked over at Sarada and started laughing, "Your glasses are stupid!"

Sasuke frowned. Just as he was about to move forward to dip Bolt's head in the sauce Sakura stabbed her foot into Sasuke, to which he gave out a quite gasp. Her emerald eyes looked angrily at him as a warning. Before he could respond Sarada spoke, "So is your face usuratonkachi."

"Sarada!" Sakura said.

Sasuke gave out a laugh and smirked. Sakura looked at the father and daughter disapprovingly.

Sasuke dint care. He had been worried unnecessarily. Sarada was a replica of him afterall.

Everything was going to be just fine.

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><p><strong>A.N : Hello again! A few translations.<strong>

**Oji - san - uncle **

**Oba - chan - aunty**

**U****suratonkachi - Dobe. Sasuke would usually call Naruto that, I guess the dubbed version uses Dobe as a translation. **

**Also just wanted to mention since these are one shots I will be jumping from one timeline to another as and when an idea pops into my head. So if Sarada is 4 years old in this chapter she could be 2 year old in the next and 6 years old in the next to next. So please keep that in mind.**

**Other than that thank you all for the support. ****Did you like Sasuke's unreasonable possessiveness? Let me know through reviews!**

_**Reminder : Story is marked as complete since these are one shots. Don't be fooled! Many more chapters to come!**_

**Ja ne!**

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><p><span><em><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>_


	3. Deadlast no more!

Yo! I hope you guys are doing fine, I am feeling fantastic thanks to all the support this story is getting!

Thanks to **_tsukinopen, Hatake Jie, sauskaepanda, koko-yarou, Maelynae, _****_deguchi, Blaze Release _**for the reviews.

Also thanks to everyone who added Road to Parenthood as favorite story, story alert and added me under author alert, favorite author. I really appreciate it!

I am sorry for the delay in uploading, but I have seemed to make up for it in size. This chapter is easily thrice as long as the first chapter! So I will shut up now and get back at the end of the chapter!

Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>** : I do not own Naruto.**

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><p>Sasuke's eyes scanned the room slowly while his hands held a fighting stance. His Sharingan activated involuntarily. He heard footsteps rapidly approaching him from behind.<p>

'"Hmph" he let out a smirk and swiftly held the hand which was to attack him. The attacker let out a gasp and quickly swayed his leg to force a kick. Sasuke's other hand held his leg not letting it anywhere near his stomach. He held the attacker down very lightly and held his arm over his neck applying a harmless light pressure over the windpipe and kept the other hand locked behind his back. Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan. That's it. He is done for. The attacker slowly let a smile fill his face.

PHOOF!

'Kage Bunshin (Shadow clone)?' Sasuke thought to himself.

Before Sasuke could fathom what had just happened the attacker approached him from behind yet again.

"AAAHHH!" The attacker charged at Sasuke.

As soon as Sasuke turned around he was welcomed by a splash of white liquid. It was too late to react, his head was soaked with the consistency of which he could only sense was…glue. His hands tried to remove the sticky substance but he only made it worse by smearing it on more.

"WHAT THE FU-"

"SASUKE! LANGUAGE!" Naruto yelled out. Naruto rushed to the scene when he heard his little brat of a child screaming his lungs out. But it was too late.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! THIS MOTHER FU-" Sasuke said infuriated.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cut Sasuke off again before he could complete his heartwarming curses. By then Bolt – the attacker – was being dragged by Naruto by his ears.

"Don't worry we will get it off." Naruto tried to comfort Sasuke.

"THIS IS BLOODY GLUE! I HAVE TO CHOP MY HAIR OFF!"

"Can you calm down! It's not glue. It's just white paint, he just thickened the consistency. It is make believe glue. He uses it at school to scare off other kids."

"Ooouuuccchh Daaaad!" Bolt gave our cries trying to get out of Naruto's grasp.

Sasuke stared down at his fingers. He collected a few drops from his hair and smelt it. It didn't smell like glue, nor paint. It was pretty genius of Bolt though, Sasuke had to admit. Obviously not out loud.

"Scare off? Or bully?" Sasuke asked.

"Whatever it is. It clearly worked." Naruto mocked looking at Sasuke's sad state as he let go of Bolt. Bolt was left rubbing his ears trying to numb the feeling.

"It's really hard to take your taunt seriously when you have that pink apron around your waist." Sasuke said as he walked past Naruto reaching for some tissues.

"Wow." Naruto held out his hands dramatically. "I cook for this family and this what I get to hear!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's shenanigans. "And when the hell did you teach him Kage Bunshin. Don't you think he is too young to learn that, not to mention it's a forbidden jutsu."

"I only taught him to replicate one." Naruto said as he bent over and looked Bolt in the eye. Bolt folded his hands and looked away as he pouted grumpily. Naruto pointed towards the corner of the room where two walls conjoined.

"10 minutes to the sky." He told Bolt sternly.

"No! No I didn't do it dattebasa!" Bolt protested.

"You know you did it dattebayo!" Naruto argued back.

"It wasn't me dattebasa!"

"Don't lie dattebayo!"

After sometime all Sasuke could hear was.

"…dattebasa!"

"…dattebayo!"

"…dattebasa!"

"…dattebayo!"

"…dattebasa!"

"…dattebayo!"

It was like he was stuck in a genjutsu with a broken alarm which had an unbearable synchronized tone of the Uzumakis, without a functioning halt button.

"…dattebasa!"

"…dattebayo!"

A nerve bulged out on Sasuke's forehead, he tried to control his anger. Just as he was about to give them a piece of his mind….

"SHUT UP SHANNARO!" shouted Sarada.

Great! That's all Sasuke needed, more immigrants to join the loony herd of catchphrases.

Bolt looked at Naruto and tugged his pink apron hoping to be excused this time. Naruto shook his head sideways declining the plea. A disappointed Bolt took his corner and held both his hands up reaching for the roof as his punishment.

Naruto gave out a little sigh and turned his attention back to Sasuke. "And also isn't that a little hypocritical coming from you? Sarada would have blown this house up if I wasn't quick enough to read and recognize her hands signs and turn the stove off."

Sasuke looked away sheepishly. "umm..well.. it's an Uchiha tradition to teach your child Goukakyuu No Jutsu (Firestyle Jutsu) once they are close to turning five."

"In the kitchen?" Naruto asked his face twitching.

It was an unspoken fact that their rivalry had gone beyond just outdoing each other. It had moved onto teaching their children to outdo the other. They both just shrugged the topic off, as they both knew taunting the other one would only reveal their own secrets.

Sarada broke the awkwardness, "Naruto oji-chan, your ramen has cooked."

"Aaa" Naruto said as his eyes beamed at the thought of ramen and he made his way back to the kitchen.

"What happened to your hair?" Sarada asked as she examined it.

Sasuke just looked over at Bolt as a response. Who didn't have his hands held up anymore. He had his hand in a position a guy knew far too well…was he about to urinate on his wall?!

"NARUTO!" Sasuke yelled out.

"WHAT?! WHAT!?" A panic struck Naruto came rushing out with a spatula in his hand. Sasuke vigorously pointed his finger at Bolt.

Naruto followed his direction and realized just in time. "BOLT!"

"Why is everyone screaming?" Sarada asked a frown forming on her forehead.

Bolt turned his head around with a huge grin on his face. His hands were still in position. As Naruto rushed towards him, he artistically sprayed his yellow fluid on the wall.

"I am Yellow Flash!" Bolt declared beaming.

He was flashing alright.

Sasuke quickly wrapped his palm around Sarada's eye. He didn't want to contaminate his daughter's precious innocence, at least not under his watch, at least not from Bolt!

Naruto too earned the title of Yellow Flash as he reached besides Bolt in the blink of an eye.

"That is not what Yellow Flash stands for! You really think**this** is what your grandfather went around doing and got famous for?!" Naruto said as he haphazardly carried Bolt outside the window towards the backyard.

As a token of appreciation for Bolt's artistic exhibition, his bare behind bore the prize which was engraved in a ripe spatula marking.

Since Sarada was deprived of her eyesight, her other senses grew sharper. "Something is burning" she said, her fingers placed on her Dads protective hands over her eyes.

On hearing that Naruto rushed to the kitchen like a hysterical woman, hands flaring in the process "OH MY GOD MY PORK CUTLETS!"

"And Daddy your hands are painting my glasses." Sarada said annoyed.

Sasuke removed his palm not realizing he was still soaked in paint. He bent down to reach Sarada's height. Her glasses were almost covered in paint, though she could see through a few missed out spaces. Sasuke ran his painted finger over the tip of her nose, leaving a white mark. Sarada wrinkled her nose and rub her hand over it. Sasuke smiled at the reaction.

Meanwhile Bolt climbed his way back through the window, caressing his tender behind from the spatula assault. He witnessed the Father – Daughter moment and looked away grumpily. All he had gotten from his father today was half a sore ass.

"It comes off with Shampoo." Bolt said as he pouted, averting his eyes from Sasuke.

Sasuke's next gesture took Bolt by surprise. His eyes widened as Sasuke's paint soaked finger tapped Bolt's forehead with a light force.

"I will get you next time." Sasuke said with half a smile. Bolt placed his palm over his forehead feeling the after sensation. It was very unlike his Uncle Sasuke to show such a gesture, in fact any gesture towards him. His face filled with a smile, he took up the challenge.

"It will be real glue next time oji san!" Bolt said as he pointed a finger at Sasuke's damp hair with confidence.

"As if I will let you." Sarada said standing in-between the two with half a vision and hands on her hip in defense.

"My cutlets.." Naruto appeared back in the hall showcasing a pitch black coated circle of a cutlet. He sniffed, tears filling his eyes.

Suddenly Naruto's face was forced with a tissue. "We can make another batch dattebasa!"

Naruto looked at Bolt. He willingly accepted the tissue and wiped out his tears.

"Dattebayo!" Naruto responded enthusiastically. And the father and son gave each other a fist bump.

"I am sorry to interrupt the heartwarming moment but…isn't that the same spatula you used on Bolt?" Sasuke asked warily.

"umm…well.." Naruto laughed nervously scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"We are home!" The awkwardness was cut as Sakura and Hinata made their way back into the house. They placed their shoes outside and made their way towards the hall, oblivious of the ruckus taking place "Look who we found on our wa…What the hell happened here?!"

Sakura looked around, her house was in a mess! The furniture was out of order, her pink apron was stained in colors she couldn't even recognize, her kitchen was filled with smoke, one wall was covered in black char, and what was that god forsaken stench...wait what is that trail of liquid from the wall to the backyard. And is her husband covered in…glue?

"Mom…is that you? I recognized your voice. I must rely on my other senses now that I'm blind." Sarada said with a straight face with hands held out trying to reach for Sakura, like a blind man searching his way.

"**WHAT**?!" Sakura asked panic struck.

"She is kidding. Her glasses are covered in paint, that's all!" Sasuke said defensively as he held back Sarada.

"Well she clearly inherited your sense of humor! Two hours! Two hours is all we asked of you and now look at this place!" Sakura said catching hold of Sarada's hand and taking her to the washroom. "I will get her cleaned up. This room better get back to the way it was when I return!" she deadpanned looking at the two fathers.

"Iruka sensei please have a seat." Hinata said gesturing him towards the sofa. "We met him at the market and invited him over." Hinata told the rest.

"Maybe it is not the best time." Iruka said laughing nervously.

"Iruka sensei have some of my ramen!" Naruto said smiling broadly.

"You rather not." Sasuke said as he adjusted the sofa. Iruka lent a hand.

"Let me take over the kitchen." Hinata said as she tried to take the spatula from Naruto's hand.

"I..I will ..umm..keep this." He held on to the spatula to discard it later.

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><p>It was late evening by the time the hall was back to the way Sakura had left it, free of any stains. The Uchiha's were all cleaned up and dressed. And the two families along with Iruka sensei had a hearty lunch all thanks to Hinata and her lovely cooking skills.<p>

The sun was setting and the adults were gathered around the table, sipping in their tea and chewing of their tea time treats.

"The house is so peaceful. How I wish it could be like this all the time." Sakura said stretching out hers arms.

"That would mean Iruka sensei would have to permanently reside in the park with our kids." Naruto joked.

"That doesn't seem like such a bad idea right now." Sakura said leaning back and closed her eyes, completely relaxed.

Even though Sakura was joking, Hinata shifted in her spot uncomfortably dreading even the thought of letting go of Bolt.

Sakura suddenly opened her eyes, "Oh since the kids are not here this is the perfect time to discuss about Sarada's Birthday!"

"When is it?" Hinata asked.

"In three weeks. I wanted to do something exciting, though nothing really gets her excited." Sakura said making a face.

"She has gone on her father it seems." Naruto laughed.

"At least she is not as unfortunate as Bolt who got your face usuratonkachi." Sasuke shot back.

"What did you say!" Naruto said forcing his hand on the table.

"AYE! Stop it you two! How can you still quarrel like kids!" Sakura said.

Naruto and Sasuke just looked away in different directions.

Sakura sighed. Quickly changed the subject, "What are you planning for Bolt's birthday?"

"Oh there are three months for that. We have a lot of time." Hinata said.

Sakura and Hinata both collected the used tea cups and empty bowls and made their way towards the kitchen still talking about the birthday plans.

"Hmph" Sasuke made a noise and smirked.

"What!" Naruto said.

"Nothing."

"What is it duck face!"

Sasuke shot a look at Naruto. He shouldn't have gone to that old taunt of his hair resembling the back of a ducks ass.

"Bolt's birthday is close to 3 months after Sarada's birthday." Sasuke said smirk still stuck to his face.

"Yeah so?"

"So…I beat you to it."

"What did you say!"

"I said I beat you to it. **Dead last**."

"Teme!"

"What is it now!" Sakura asked hands on her hip, irritated.

Naruto paced towards the ladies, grabbed Hinata's hand and rushed out the door. "We are going!"

"But..but..Bolt?" Hinata said caught a little offguard.

"We can pick him up from Iruka sensei later."

"but Na..NaNaruto-kun." Hinata turned around and looked equally confused as Sakura. "Sorry Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun."

The door shut behind them. Sasuke turned his gaze back to his tea and sensed Sakura waiting for answers. "What did you do?" she asked. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders gesturing he had no clue.

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><p><strong>xxx One month later xxx<strong>

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><p>"Yes yes coming coming!" Sakura said as she reached out to answer the unstoppable door knocks.<p>

"H..Hi!" Hinata said looking sorry to have disturbed them.

"SAKURA–CHAN!" Naruto called out her name, overjoyed.

"Hinata? Naruto? What brings you guys here." Sakura asked inviting them in.

"We have some special news to share." Naruto beamed while Hinata blushed. Sakura just raised an eyebrow in response.

"But before that Sakura-chan, do you have anything to tell us?" Naruto said in a hushed tone.

"Like what?" Sakura asked confused.

"Any good news? About anyone..I don't know..maybe someone new to join us?" Naruto tried to ask slyly.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked clueless.

"Hmm okay." Naruto concluded there must be nothing. "Okay.. okay then!"

Naruto walked the hallway taking Hinata with him and Sakura followed. He saw a very disinterested Sasuke looked their way from above his newspaper as they entered his view.

"We have good news to share!" Naruto said smiling broadly.

Sasuke waited impatiently for him to continue.

"Any guesses?" Naruto asked testing their patience.

"Gosh just out with it already!" Sakura said as she clenched her fist.

"Okay okay! We are pregnant!" Naruto finally said as he placed his hand over Hinata's shoulder bringing her closer to him. Hinata blushed at the sudden PDA.

"Oh my gosh! Congratulations!" Sakura said as she hugged Hinata.

"Thank you Sakura-chan." Hinata said timidly.

"Was it planned?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Hmm..no..not really." Hinata said looking away.

"We should celebrate! Let me serve some left over cake." Sakura said as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Let me help." Hinata said as she followed her.

Naruto looked at the ladies and then turned his gaze at Sasuke and walked over to sit beside him.

"Congratulations." Sasuke said dryly.

"Thank you." Naruto said trying to show indifference to the pleasantry.

Sasuke returned his attention back to his newspaper.

"Hmph" Naruto made a noise and smirked.

No reaction.

"**HMPH**!" Naruto grunted a little more forcefully.

"What?" Sasuke slightly looked over Naruto from over his newspaper.

"In a matter of a few more months I will have another kid." Naruto said, his voice filled with pride.

"So…?" Sasuke asked not getting the point.

"So…now I beat you to it." Naruto said as he folded his arms trying to show superiority.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He relaxed his hands which held the newspaper and paid complete attention to Naruto, realization striking him.

"Wait..are you saying when we had this conversation last and you stormed off..it was for this..?" Sasuke asked curious.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders conveying how obvious it was.

Sasuke smiled and soon it turned into a loud laugh.

Naruto was taken aback by the reaction, his superiority losing its ground.

"What?" Naruto asked. Sasuke continued laughing. "What?!" Naruto asked anxiously.

"You are pathetic. Wait till Hinata finds out how unplanned this really was." Sasuke said finally catching a hold of his laughter.

"Wait what? No no no! Are you crazy! You can't tell her that!" Naruto said petrified.

Sasuke smirked having realized how the tables turned so quickly.

"Can't tell who what?" Sakura asked as she placed four plates with cake on the table.

"Umm..umm..nothing!" Naruto said placing his hands ahead defensively.

"What is it!" Sakura asked as she saw Sasuke looking away and laughing. "Share the joke with us too!"

"It's nothing Sakura-chan. Just some silly guy talk." Naruto said as sweat drops formed on his forehead.

"Are you going to tell us or not." Sakura demanded.

Naruto was dumbfounded. He looked at Sasuke to rescue him. Sasuke cleared his voice and spoke, "He was asking me if we are sure we don't have any similar news like theirs to share."

Sakura shook her head and spoke brushing off the topic, "Naruto I told you there is noth.."

"He says because you sure look like you do." Sasuke cut her off.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke stunned. Sasuke was grinning away.

Naruto's attention went back as he sensed a shadow forming over him.

"Sa..Sa..Sakura-chan..I didn't " Naruto said shaking his hand in denial.

"What do you mean I look like I am pregnant!" Sakura's eyes glared devils green, hair spread out in anger and hands formed a tight fist.

"**SHANNARO!**"

Naruto said his last prayer of hoping to survive to see his soon to be daughter, Himawari.

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><p><strong>A.N: Hello again! That was a surprisingly lengthy chapter for me! I hope you liked it! :D<strong>

**I was asked where Himawari was in the last chapter. Well according to me Himari and Bolt have at least 5 years age difference. Since in the manga Bolt is in the academy while Himwari isn't, it is safe to assume she isn't older than 5 years and Bolt to me looks like he is at least 10. But gain this is my assumption. And since no exact information is given about these kids and since this is a fan fiction story, I think I will stick to this.**

**Also I am excited to announce that I will be uploading a new chapter early next week. It will be sidetracking the current story line, but it is still between chapter 699 and 700. Let's just say it is like a bonus chapter! I hope you will enjoy that as well.**

**Btw did anyone get a chance to watch The last Naruto movie? I am dying to watch it!**

**Also is anyone missing Itachi as much as me in this story? Maybe I could do something about that ;)**

**Let me know if you guys liked this chapter. Their rivalry never ends! Any ideas, views, suggestion are welcome!**

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><p><span><em><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>_


	4. Forgive me Sasuke

I know I know I went absconding! I am extremely sorry. But more about that at the end, we will get straight to the chapter after the thank you's, I have made you wait long enough as it is.

Thank you for the reviews _**Hatake Jie**__**, **__**Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora**__**, **__**koko-yarou**__**, **__**cari, **__**Jokerisdaking**__**, **__**TMjR, **__**Silent Hero 13**__**, **__**deguchi, **__**NALU-ROCKS323**__**, **__**JohnPeacekeeper**__**, **__**darkchocol8807**__**, **__**Pixie07**__**, **__**grandshadowseal**__**.**_

Also thanks to everyone who added Road to Parenthood as favorite story, story alert and added me under author alert, favorite author. I really appreciate it!

Also just a heads up! I had mentioned I will be uploading a bonus chapter next, well this is not it. But it will be uploaded soon. I thought we should start the New Year with Itachi's blessings instead! ;)

See you in the end! Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.<strong>

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><p><strong><span>Road to Parenthood : Forgive me Sasuke…<span>**

The Uchiha family were relaxing after having a hearty dinner. Sakura was busy washing the dishes while Sasuke switched channels on the television hoping something might interest him. Sarada on the other hand was surrounded by photo albums, her eyes beamed as she went from one page to another observing her daddy dearest back when he was the age Sarada would be turning tomorrow – five years old.

Sarada would often go through the Uchiha albums in order to fill their void in reality. Sasuke hadn't quite gotten to explain the truth behind why she had no Uchiha grandparents, how did her uncle who her dad says was the strongest shinobi there ever was die out of an incurable disease, or as to why she had no relatives whatsoever from the Uchiha clan. All she was told was that the Uchiha clan sacrificed themselves in a battle which was fought for the betterment of the village and that her uncle was completely against getting Sasuke involved in the matter. And since Itachi was the strongest only he could survive the battle. This left only Itachi and Sasuke as the survivors from the Uchiha clan. And eventually Itachi succumbed to his disease.

Sarada being the inquisitive kind would bombard Sasuke with all sorts of questions about her relatives. And he would dutifully answer them truthfully as long as it had nothing to do with the massacre. She knew everything about her uncle. Sarada preferred going to bed listening to tales of her dad and uncle instead of the unrealistic fairytale stories.

Sarada picked up her next album and placed it on her lap and started flipping pages. Most of them were of her daddy and her beloved uncle Itachi. She stopped flipping the page when one particular photo caught her attention.

"Daddy do you not like cats?" Sarada asked.

Sasuke stopped switching channels and turned his attention to Sarada.

"I don't mind them." Sasuke responded.

"So why are you holding up this cat like you killed it?" Sarada asked as she held out the wide album to face him, which covered her face in the process. She stretched out her neck to look at her dad from over the album.

Sasuke squinted his eyes to look at the photo, but in no vain. He lifted his right hand and waved it towards him gesturing for her to come to him. Sarada followed his instructions and dragged the rather heavy album to get to her dad. Sasuke took the album from his struggling daughter and placed it on the table ahead of him. He picked up Sarada and placed her in between the space of his folded legs. She snuggled in and adjusted herself until she fit in comfortably. Sasuke then looked at the album from over Sarada's head. Sarada placed her tiny finger on the photo and looked up at her dad for answers. She saw his expression widen and then turn into a faint smile. Sasuke's eyes beamed as he saw his Nii-san and himself posing for a photo. Itachi held out a paper with a cat's paw print and Sasuke had a wide smile as he held a cat which hung from his hand.

"Daddy?" Sarada run her hands across his eyes to catch his attention. Sasuke snapped out of his thought and caught hold of Sarada's hands and held it inside his own. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer giving her a tight squeeze.

"Daddyyy stooopp!" Sarada gave out an amusing yelp as she pretended to get suffocated with Sasuke's rather light grip.

Sakura looked around at the Father Daughter duo and gave out a small laugh. She placed the dish in her hand over the counter, wiped her wet hands on her apron and made her way next to her husband.

Sasuke gave out a smile and pointed his finger at the said photo.

"That.." He pointed at the cat "..is not dead. That.." He pointed at the paw print Itachi held out. "..was my mission."

"To get a paw print?" Sarada asked with a raised eyebrow looking rather unimpressed.

"Well in my defense I was only 5 years old. And cats can be a…" Sasuke ran his fingers in the air thinking of a good replacement for the word 'bitch'. "..can be pretty sly." He finished.

"Oji-san had to accompany you for this? Where these cats that dangerous?" Sarada asked as she took a closer look at the cat.

"I would tag along Nii-san for his errands and would get bored and throw tantrums. So Nii-san made a game to collect paw print from fast and nimble cats, and I took it up as a mission." Sasuke narrated. Sarada still looked disappointed.

"But Daddy did fight a big grumpy monster like cat with Naruto and me." Sakura intervened hoping to impress Sarada.

"Three genins for one cat?!" Sarada asked shock evident on her face.

"Let me show you." Sakura's eyes searched for a particular album. Her hands reached out for a pink album which read Team 7. She ran through the pages, some with Team 7 group photo, one at wave country with Tazuna and Inari, one taken right before chunnin exam and so on. She finally found the page she was looking for.

"There." She said and placed the album on the table in front of Sarada to see. The photo had Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto standing along with an old lady with grey hair who looked a lot like a cat. What did catch the little Uchiha's attention was the long sheet of cloth hanging behind them with a red paw print imprinted on it, the height of which was as much as her dads at the time.

"WOW!" Sarada looked at the photo astonished. "You really caught this daddy?" She turned around to face her dad.

"Well…" Sasuke hesitated to agree as it was a team mission.

"Yes all by himself." Sakura interrupted and gave out a smile.

"That's amazing!" Sarada turned her attention back to the photo and placed her palm over the paw print to measure the difference. "Wow." She continued. "Daddy looks so cool like it was no big deal."

"Daddy always looked cool." Sakura said as she moved ahead to reach the album on the table. "Compared to Naruto there." She pointed at Naruto standing next to Sasuke with hands behind his head. Sarada gave out a laugh, "Usuratonkachi."

"Sarada!" Sakura exclaimed. If Sasuke hadn't followed up with a chuckle Sarada would feel bad for offending her mom, but with her dad's supporting laugh she instead just adjusted herself more close on her dad's lap.

Sakura sighed at the teamwork and made her way back to the dishes.

"But I like this one more Daddy." Sarada said as she moved the pink album aside and got her attention back to the photo of Itachi and Sasuke. "I wish Itachi oji-san could come to my birthday tomorrow." Sarada said as her fingers ran over the photo.

Sasuke's face softened at her words and he wrapped his arms around his daughter's tiny stature. Sasuke placed a kiss over her hair and rested his cheek over her head as she turned the pages to more photos of the Uchiha brothers.

**xxx**

Sasuke tucked Sarada in her bed and placed the blanket over her. He placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"Daddy can you tell me a bedtime story?" Sarada asked.

"Which one?" Sasuke asked as his hands ran through the books placed below the side lamp. "Will Cindrella do?"

"No daddy! Tell me some other story about you and oji-san!" Sarada pleaded.

Sasuke sat on the bed and Sarada shifted to make space for his to lie down next to her. He did just that thinking of a story he hadn't already told her.

"Have I told you about the wild boar?" Sasuke asked.

"No!" Sarada exclaimed in glee as she wrapped her arms around her dad's prosthetic left arm.

"Okay so long ago Itachi oji-san had a wild boar mission…"

Sasuke continued with his story until Sarada struggled to keep her eyes open and finally gave in as her eyes shut and she dozed off to sleep. Sasuke slowly slid his hand out of Sarada's grip and made his way out of the bed. He tucked her in and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her switched off the side lamp and walked towards the door. He took a last glance at his daughter, smiled and quietly shut the door behind him.

Sasuke walked towards the master bedroom. His right palm wrapped around the knob but he didn't turn them around to open the door. He absent mindedly looked at the knob as his mind wandered off to his thoughts. He slowly brought his left hand toward his face and let the index and middle finger tap his forehead. He felt the sensation with his palm and took a deep breathe. His hand slid down his face and reached his chest, he clenched his hand into a light fist. He took another deep breathe and smiled at the thought. He turned the knob and opened the door. Sakura turned around in their bed to see her husband walk in.

"Something wrong?" She asked concerned.

"I'm smiling." Sasuke said.

"Exactly." Sakura taunted.

Sasuke tucked himself inside the blanket.

"Funny aren't you?" Sasuke said as he placed his head on the pillow. Sakura gave out a small laugh and snuggled under his left arm and she placed her head over his chest and wrapped her left arm around him. Sasuke kissed his head in response.

Sakura soon found her eyes closing at the comfort of her husband's beating heart. Sasuke however looked at the ceiling and blankly observed the rotating fan, his mind elsewhere.

Sasuke was perfectly happy with his life right now. He really couldn't have asked for more, what he had now too was more than what he deserved. So it really isn't in his reach to ask for more. However, he couldn't help but wonder or rather wish if only his Nii-san was around to witness it all. If only Sarada and Sakura had the privilege of knowing a man like him. If only Sarada was fortunate enough to experience her oji-san pamper her to death. And selfishly, if only he could just once get to see his Nii-san again so he could thank him for everything, thank him for the life he now leads.

With such thought Sasuke's eyes closed and he was fast asleep.

**xxx**

Next morning Sasuke was as usual sipping on his morning tea as he read his newspaper. Sakura was preparing their special breakfast with all of Sarada's favorite dishes, after all it was her birthday.

Suddenly they heard a knock on the door.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and tilted her head over to the door gesturing for him to answer to it. He in return rose his tea cup gesturing he was busy and gave her an air kiss. Sakura narrowed her eyes and grunted her way towards the door. Sasuke smiled and thought he was being rather cute to be himself.

His attention went back to his newspaper till he heard Sakura give out a happy screech. He placed the newspaper on the table and tried to see who it was. 'Couldn't be Naruto, she wouldn't be this happy to see him. Oh no..what if it is her hyperactive parents! Dear lord it had to be, it is Sarada's birthday.' He thought to himself as a fake smile plastered on to his face to greet his in-laws.

"Sasuke-kun, guess who is finally back!" Sakura said as she walked back to the room as a figure slowly emerged from behind her.

Sakura moved aside for Sasuke to get a full view of the person in question. Sasuke's fake smile dripped off his face. His eyes widened in disbelief when they met with his beloved..

"Nii-san…"

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><p><strong>A.N : DHUN DHUN DHUN DHUN! That's my cliffhanger sound effect! <strong>

**Yes yes the story has not ended, it is to be continued. And I do know this story wasn't entirely humor but hey it is family like I sub-categorized it so you can't hold it against me *evil* In my defense it was to create a strong enough plot for the next chapter which will have humor.**

**Also a few things, the cat photo I mentioned is actually from a filler episode from the anime series. If any of you don't follow the anime it is fine too, it has no relevance to the story. But if you do want to check it out its Naruto Shippuden Episode 189 : Sasuke's Paw Encyclopedia ****(Warning : Rather random) or you could just type the name of the episode and you will get the images of the said photo.**

**Oji-san : Uncle**

**Nii-san : Big Brother**

**That being said, to get back to as to why I went missing, December was completely hectic - Weddings, Exams, Christmas, Vacations, BIRTHDAY, New Years! So yes I do apologize for having too much fun to not pay attention here.**

**I will try my best to upload soon, you guys are being really supportive and I do want to return the favor.**

**Happy New year to one and all! I hope 2015 kicks 2014's ass!**

**Lastly let me know what your views are about this chapter! Itachi is BACK! How? Well you will have to wait and find out.**

**Any views, suggestions, ideas are appreciated. **

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><p><em><span><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>_


	5. Maybe next time

Thank you for the reviews _**Pixie07, ZeldaForever777, grandshadowseal, JohnPeacekeeper, Otakugal , Hikary Sanoko, Silent Hero 13.**_

Also thanks to everyone who added Road to Parenthood as favorite story, story alert and added me under author alert, favorite author. I really appreciate it!

Warning : Long chapter ahead. Meet you at the long authors note in the end!

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><p><strong>Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.<strong>

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><p><strong><span>Road to Parenthood : ...Maybe next time<span>**

"_Daddy!" _

_Sasuke's eyes shot open by the sound of his daughter crying out for him. _

"_DADDY!"_

_Sakura slowly opened her eyes, her mind not being able to fathom what was happening. Sasuke quickly leapt on his feet and reached besides Sarada before she could breathe enough air to scream out again._

"_Daddy is here. It's okay." Sasuke tried to console Sarada as he cuddled and cradled her tiny stature back and forth comfortingly on her bed. _

"_What's wrong?" Sakura said as she raced to the room at the best speed she could. She knelt down at Sarada who had her face buried inside Sasuke arms hugging his chest. Fat tears rolled down her face and soiled Sasuke's shorts. _

_Sakura took Sarada's hand in her own and rubbed it gently, "What happened Sarada?"_

_Sarada responded by heavy sniffing. A frown formed on Sakura's forehead in worry and she looked at Sasuke for answers. Sasuke just looked back at her with the same expression still continuing to cradle his daughter. _

_Suddenly Sasuke heard some sound outside. His head shot up in alert and he tried to make his way towards the window. But Sarada held him tight, "No no daddy don't leave! Don't leave me! Please!"_

"_Sarada…" Sakura said as she held her hand tight. "Daddy isn't going anywhere. He is just going to see where that noise is coming from." Sakura released Sarada's grip on Sasuke's waist and she brought Sarada closer to herself. Sasuke got up and made his way towards the window. Sarada continued to cry out to him as her vision was blurred without her glasses, she couldn't see where he was headed. Sakura picked up her glasses from the side table and secured it in between her ears. Sarada finally calmed down when she saw her dad was just looking out the window._

"_What happened Sarada, did you have a bad dream?" Sakura tried to ask._

"_Daddy will leave, daddy is going to leave." Sarada repeated, sobbing._

"_Daddy is not going anywhere." Sakura consoled. _

_Meanwhile Sasuke looked out the window trying to detect where the sound was coming from. Something didn't feel right to him. The pitch black darkness of the night along with the trees outside the window weakened his vision. He placed his right foot onto the window sill to jump out to investigate further._

"_Daddy! NO NO!" Sarada screamed out noticing he was about to jump._

_Sasuke turned around and saw his daughter's terrified face and Sakura trying to hold her back. He pulled his leg back onto the floor without a second thought. Sarada pushed herself free from her mother's clutches and raced towards her dad. Sasuke dutifully picked her up and Sarada tightened her hands around his neck, almost choking him. Sakura made her way next to her family. _

"_She had a nightmare." Sakura informed Sasuke as she patted her hair._

_But Sasuke's attention was outside. He could hear crows cawing in a distance. 'That can't be a good sign' he said to himself, superstition clouding his judgment. _

"_What's wrong?" Sakura asked noticing the look on Sasuke's face._

_The faint sound of crows cawing was getting louder. It grew loud enough for Sakura and Sarada to take notice. _

"_What's happening?" Sakura asked to no one in particular._

_Sasuke's eyes opened wide and he quickly placed a hand over Sakura's head and pushed it down with him. "DUCK!" _

_The three of them hid their heads under the window sill as a murder of crows flew inside the window into the room. The crows filled the room and started flying around haphazardly. _

"_Daddy.." Sarada said as she watched the crows in horror. Sakura searched for Sasuke's hand without taking her eyes off the birds, "Sasuke-kun…these crows.."_

"_I know." Sasuke said as he realized his wife noticed the crows flying with a red eye. It was unquestionable, but how?_

_Before he could comprehend a crow flew right past their faces, close enough for all three to confirm it was the Sharingan. And for two to confirm it was the Mangekyo Sharingan. If they took a direct look at the sharingan it was evident all three were cast in a genjutsu by now. The only person strong enough to disperse it is Sasuke, which he did successfully even before he could be caste in the genjutsu. He looked over at Sakura and Sarada, they were both unconscious. The usually swift Sasuke was not being himself. His mind was all over the place, completely scattered. His thoughts were preoccupied with __**how**__ this was happening more than how to counter it. Instead of helping Sakura he looked around to find some answers – these crows with the sharingan shaped like a wheel. There is no doubt about it, but how! His throat was drying at the thought of it all. Before he knew it, few crows gathered at a spot next to the door forming a hand, a hand he knew far too well. Sasuke took notice of the hand making a hand sign after which he couldn't move. He couldn't disperse this genjutsu, but why? His eye shifted to see his wife and daughter, still unconscious. Sasuke tried to close his eyes to focus his mind to distort the genjutsu but before he knew it a crow took its flight back straight towards Sasuke's face. Sasuke could hear his heart thump loudly in his ears. It grew louder and louder till he was grasping for breathe. His vision was slowly fading away. It was getting white. His ears which were filled with chaotic instructions from his brain to react were suddenly replaced with a flatline. But his brain didn't quite give up. Breathe. Breathe! BREATHE!_

Suddenly Sasuke shot up from his bed panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead. The morning sun shone brightly on his face and cast his shadow on the wall. Sakura felt the sudden movement on the bed and looked over. "Sasuke-kun?" she got up and placed her hand over his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke just took a deep breath in response.

"Nightmare?" Sakura asked as she wiped off the sweat with her hand.

"I'm not sure…" Sasuke responded.

"It's okay." She patted his back in consolation. "Whatever it was its over. Also.." She placed her hand under his jaw and shifted his head to face her. "..it's Sarada's Birthday today." Sakura reminded him and smiled. She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I better freshen up and make her favorite breakfast before she wakes up."

"Hn." Sasuke said. As Sakura got off the bed and made her way inside the bathroom, Sasuke was left behind pondering over his nightmare. But could he really call it that? A nightmare? After all crows with a Mangekyo Sharingan could only mean one thing. He shook his head and shrugged the thought off his mind. He could not afford to spoil his mood today. It is his daughter's birthday and he will not let anything ruin it, not even him. He took a deep breath. 'Just a dream' he convinced himself.

'Sarada's birthday' he reminded himself. The thought of his daughter drew a smile on his face. And he confirmed his resolve to be the most cheerful he has been, just for Sarada. He slid himself off the bed and knocked on the bathroom door. He could hear the water gushing out of the shower.

"I'm taking a shower, give me some time." Sakura shouted from inside.

"I know. Can I join?" Sasuke asked cheekily. He waited for his wife to throw some snarky remark at him but not much to his surprise the door opened slightly. The hot vapor from the shower withdrew itself from the space, carrying with it the sweet scent of strawberry scented shampoo. Sasuke smirked in triumph and made his way inside the bathroom and shut the door after him. The resolve is definitely working in his favor so far, very unlike him but maybe he should try it more often.

**xxx**

After thoroughly helping each other freshen up that morning, Sasuke was as usual sipping on his morning tea as he read his newspaper. Sakura was preparing their special breakfast with all of Sarada's favorite dishes, after all it was her birthday.

Suddenly they heard a knock on the door.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and tilted her head over to the door gesturing for him to answer to it. He in return rose his tea cup gesturing he was busy and gave her an air kiss. Sakura narrowed her eyes and grunted her way towards the door. Sasuke smiled and thought he was being rather cute to be himself.

His attention went back to his newspaper till he heard Sakura give out a happy screech. He placed the newspaper on the table and tried to see who it was. 'Couldn't be Naruto, she wouldn't be this happy to see him. Oh no..what if it is her hyperactive parents! Dear lord it had to be, it is Sarada's birthday.' He thought to himself as a fake smile plastered on to his face to greet his in-laws.

"Sasuke-kun, guess who is finally back!" Sakura said as she walked back to the room as a figure slowly emerged from behind her.

Sakura moved aside for Sasuke to get a full view of the person in question. Sasuke's fake smile dripped off his face. His eyes widened in disbelief when they met with his beloved..

"Nii-san…" Sasuke said under his breath.

"You are just in time Itachi nii-san. I was just about to make breakfast!" Sakura said beaming at her brother in-law. But she was thoroughly ignored as Sasuke and Itachi didn't break their eye contact.

"Hmm well, why don't you have a seat, I'm sure you're tired. 6 years is a long time for you to be gone away. Was the mission successful?" Sakura asked trying to grab Itachi's attention.

"Aaa" Itachi looked at Sakura absent mindedly. "Well yes. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't" he smiled back.

"Ofcourse ofcourse." Sakura said awkwardly. She looked at Sasuke who looked baffled at what was going on.

"Sasuke-kun I know this is a bit of a surprise but at least greet your brother." Sakura complained.

Sasuke gave that a deaf ear and continued to stare at the said brother. Sakura sighed at the lack of reaction.

"He tends to zone out sometimes. Have a seat nii-san. I will get Sarada, she is going to be stunned when he sees you. Hopefully not as much as her father." She said as she made her way towards to go upstairs.

Itachi walked in and sat on the other side of the table Sasuke was seated. He looked at Sasuke who was examining Itachi from head to toe. Same face, same hair, same attire he would wear when he was working as an ANBU, same necklace, everything looked the same. Whoever this was had replicated Itachi to the dot.

Itachi looked at Sasuke and smiled, "So how have you been Sasuke?"

Sasuke said nothing.

"Mad at me for being away for so long are you?" Itachi continued.

Silence.

"Well I am here now, aren't .."

"Who are you." Sasuke cut him off.

"What are you talking about?" Itachi asked confused.

"Tell me before I slit your throat off." Sasuke said in all seriousness.

Itachi was taken aback by the reaction. "Hot headed as always I see. I was hoping you would lose that in time." He said smiling.

"I'm giving you a last chance." Sasuke said.

"We both know who I am. I am Ita.." Itachi said matter of factly.

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke said as he pounced on him from the other side of the table. He sat over Itachi and landed a punch across his face in anger, breathing heavily. Itachi adjusted his jaw and collected the blood from under his lip and examined it. "Not too hard for your standards." Itachi mocked back.

"You bastard!" Sasuke said as he raced his clenched right fist for another punch which was swiftly stopped by Itachi's left palm. "Sasuke, calm down."

"Shut up!" Sasuke responded and pushed Itachi's hand off of his and got off of him. Itachi stood up as well quickly enough to defend against the series of mild attacks Sasuke was charging at him.

"Sasuke-kun!" a shocked Sakura shouted upon seeing the two brothers fighting. Sasuke didn't respond and continued attacking Itachi.

"It's okay Sakura. Just brotherly love." Itachi said and gave back a wary smile.

"Hmm okay." Sakura wasn't sure what to make out of it. One minute Sasuke wasn't even taking notice of his brothers' arrival and the next he was beating him up. She wasn't exactly surprised either. Sasuke and Naruto who consider each other as brothers do this all the time too. She could never put her finger around this disturbing act of brotherliness.

"Sarada is taking a bath. I haven't told her you are here yet." Sakura said out loud still witnessing the brothers showing their "love" to each other. " I will just go upstairs and help her dress up. Maybe you could ..hmm..act normal by then?"

"Sure thing." Itachi said giving out a smile as he ducked to avoid a fist at the same time.

Sakura gave a wary smile and went back upstairs.

"Okay that's enough." He said and caught hold of Sasuke's hands. "Just sit down now."

Sasuke looked at him grumpily but quietly complied. He fixed the table back to its position and sat on one side and Itachi made his way to the other.

"I guess it didn't work on you." Itachi said and he sighed.

"How..how are you back?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"You attacking me with those mild moves, you knew it was me from the beginning didn't you? Then why.."

"But how!" Sasuke said exasperated.

"You know how.." Itachi responded.

"Genjutsu." Sasuke said under his breathe.

"Yes, you are currently trapped in a genjutsu. All three of you are. Ever since you saw the crows. But you dispersed it once. You knew that didn't you?"

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

"Then you saw my hand sign, but you didn't disperse it that time. Why not?"

"I tried. I couldn't."

"You couldn't or didn't want to?"

Sasuke looked at Itachi and then looked away. He couldn't or didn't want to? Could it be that he subconsciously wanted to be stuck even if it meant he could see Itachi just one more time, even if it's just an illusion? Looks like he did.

"I'm not really sure what's going on." Sasuke said.

"Yesterday when Sarada had a nightmare and called out to you, that actually happened. I wasn't anticipating her to wake up in the middle of the night, that's when I moved and you heard something outside, which was me. I wanted to capture you all in the same genjutsu and luckily you were all present at the same time there. I took my chance. Obviously I wasn't expecting you to be easy, unlike the other two. When you broke off the first try, I knew you wouldn't look directly at the sharingan that's when I had to grab your attention towards my hand. But I was expecting you to break that off too. But you didn't. After which you panicked. And then to calm you down I made it look like it was a dream. That's where it all started."

Sasuke tried to comprehend it all.

"As to why I am here, I wanted to see my niece. And I chose her birthday."

"So we are all in a genjutsu right now?"

"Yes."

"Wait..that means you are with us right now in reality?"

"Well yes."

"Then.." Sasuke was about to make a hand sign to disperse it, but Itachi caught hold of his hand.

"Don't." Itachi instructed.

"But..but if you are there in reality why do this! You could meet us for real!"

"Sasuke I am still dead. I am here only for a day. After which I will have to leave again."

Sasuke was stunned. Just for a day. "Even.. even then. Why can't you spend it with us for real?!"

"And how do you explain that to Sarada? That I magically came back from the dead and spent a day with her and then I have to leave? You really think a five year old can fathom that, or should fathom that. I don't want to bring about such abnormality in her life just for a selfish wish to spend time with her." Itachi said.

Sasuke looked away and relaxed his hand. Itachi let go.

"Once I leave this will be like a dream to her and Sakura as well. Only you could detect the genjutsu. If you disperse it I will not be there when you wake up. " Itachi continued.

Sasuke pouted in disapproval. Itachi smiled at the childish behavior. He placed his hand over Sasuke's head. "I know this is selfish of me to put you all in this condition but is it possible for you to let me spend some time with my niece?"

Sasuke looked at Itachi and gave a faint smile. Itachi took that as a yes and withdrew his hand. "Thank you. Also things aren't exactly the same here. I wanted you all to believe this is just a dream when I disperse the genjutsu and as precautionary measure I have changed the plot a bit."

"Been away on a mission for 6 years? Really? That's the best you could think of?" Sasuke mocked.

"I had you fooled when I said I let you live to test your vessel didn't I?" Itachi shot back.

"Cheapshot nii-san." Sasuke chuckled.

Itachi gave out a laugh and continued, "You all will continue the day as usual, besides having caste you all in the genjutsu and changing my background a bit I haven't scripted anything."

"Wanted to keep the spontaneity alive?" Sasuke joked.

"Well something like that." Itachi joined.

"While you were at it, couldn't you have also aged a bit? You look the same since you..well died..you look the same age as me or younger." Sasuke complained.

"Sorry, jealous much?" Itachi mocked smiling.

"Delusional much?" Sasuke shot back.

"I doesn't make a difference. It's supposed to be a dream. Sarada remembers me by the photos she has seen. In her dream people will only look like the memory she has about them. So if I remain the same she will identify with me better." Itachi explaind.

"Well thought out." Sasuke complimented.

"Now if I have your permission can I meet your daughter?"

"Granted."

"Thank you."

The brothers hear footsteps descending from the stairways. Sakura guided Sarada down the stairs as she had her eyes covered for her big surprise.

"OKAY SO SARADA I AM GOING TO TAKE YOU DOWN THE STAIRS SO YOU CAN SEE THE BIG SURPRISE!" Sakura said out loud so she could warn the other two hoping they could quit their brotherly display of affection.

"Why are you shouting?" Sarada asked confused. Sakura didn't respond.

"Is it that book I wanted Mama?" Sarada asked.

"No it's not sweetheart." Sakura replied.

They finally made it down the stairs. Itachi got a view of his niece. His eyes grew wide as he took a deep breath, a tear slowly escaping his eye. Itachi quickly wiped any trace of them and cleared his blurred waterlogged vision. Sasuke looked over at Itachi and could feel the overwhelming feeling his brother was going through. It was close to what he felt when he first held Sarada in his hands at the delivery room.

Itachi looked at Sarada, she was dressed in a beautiful blue kimono with pink flowers on them. Her shoulder length black hair perfectly parted from the side. Sarada looked like a miniature version of her grandmother. Itachi looked over at Sasuke wondering if he ever noticed that. When Sasuke just looked at him blankly Itachi just turned his attention back to Sarada smiling.

"Oh oh is it a cat!" Sarada asked her hands waving in excitement.

"No it's not Sarada." Sakura said.

"Oh." Sarada said disappointment evident on her face. "Well I guess it's for the best. Dad would kill it anyway." Sarada said referring to the picture from the album.

Itachi looked at Sasuke in confusion. His eyebrow raised in question as to ask why he was killing innocent cats. Sasuke shook his head in disapproval with both his hands up defensively.

"Okay are you ready?" Sakura asked as she bent over, her head reaching Sarada's shoulder.

Sarada shook her head in agreement. Sakura withdrew her palm from Sarada's eyes.

Sarada blinked a few times before her eyes could adjust with the sudden brightness. She looked around, vaguely seeing two figures seated.

Everyone present in the room looked at her expectedly for some reaction. But they failed to get any.

'Oh lord, she is her father's daughter alright.' Sakura said to herself.

"Mom?" Sarada asked.

"Yes dear?" Sakura responded. "Do you not recognize who that is?"

"Well..no." Sarada said.

Sasuke could feel the disappointment in the air.

"Sarada this is.." Sasuke began.

"I can't see without my glasses." Sarada cut her father off.

"Oh..OH!" Sakura said and hurried upstairs to collect the glasses.

Itachi's tense lips broke into a smile.

"Looks like there was no need to cover your eyes all the way downstairs." Itachi said.

"I don't know what it looks like because I can't see." Sarada joked, unable to recognize the voice.

Itachi was taken aback by the remark. "You've got a clever one here." He said looking at Sasuke.

Sakura quickly rushed downstairs with Sarada's glasses in her hand.

"Ready?" Sakura asked and placed the glasses in-between her ears. Sarada adjusted them as per her comfort. Her eyes first spotted her dad who smiled as she looked at him. Sasuke jerked his head towards his right to gesture at the person beside him. Sarada's eyes followed his movement. Her eyes widened at who she say in front of her. Without missing a second she said out loud, "OJI-SAN!"

Itachi smiled at the response and held out his arms for her. Sarada quickly ran over and leaped into them. "It's really you!" she said in excitement. Sakura stood close to Sasuke and placed her hands on his shoulder in support as they witnessed a scene Sasuke long desired.

"I came to wish my favorite niece a very Happy Birthday." Itachi said.

Sarada gave a wide smile and then withdrew it as quickly. "But I am your only niece." She said matter of factly.

"And you have excelled in that too." He said and picked her up and placed her on his lap as he looked at Sasuke giving him a look that Sarada is quite the sharp one.

"I will get everyone breakfast." Sakura said and made her way to the dishes.

Sarada examined Itachi's face and ran her hand over it. "Wow Oji-san, you still look so young." She turned her head towards Sasuke. "Younger than dad."

"Ahh well I've inherited the power of youth." Itachi said trying to cover up the issue.

"Oh just like Lee oji-san!" Sarada noticed. Sasuke sighed at the observation.

"Who is Lee?" Itachi asked.

"Mama's eternal lover!" Sarada said. Sakura coughed uncontrollably.

"Sorry?" Itachi asked confused.

"Nii-san here." Sakura said placing the dishes on the table trying to brush away the topic.

"Oh wow so many things to eat." Itachi said. "Shall we begin?"

"Hai!" Sakura and Sarada responded while Sasuke nodded.

"ITADAKIMASU!" They all said very melodically before breaking their glued chopsticks into two.

**xxx**

After a hearty breakfast the Uchiha's made their way towards the training ground.

"Oji-san Daddy told me you are the strongest shinobi this village has!" Sarada said as she swung both her hands, one held by her dad and the other by her uncle.

"Your dad is just being sweet." Itachi said.

"That's unusual." Sarada said as she looked over at her Dad.

"True. Guess this is just the exception to the rule." Itachi said mockingly.

"Are you both ganging up against me?" Sasuke asked.

"Oji-san do you have the Rinnegan too?" Sarada asked.

"Does it look like I do?" Itachi said rhetorically widening his eyes towards her to see.

"Oh good. So the eye mismatch defect is not hereditary." Sarada said.

"Don't you want to awaken the Sharingan?" Itachi asked.

"I do, even the Mangekyo sharigan!" Sarada said confidently.

Itachi looked at Sasuke surprise evident on his face.

"Sarada do you know how one awakens the Mangekyo?" Itachi asked concerned.

"Daddy said I should just maintain a strong friendship with Bolt for now." Sarada explained.

"Bolt?"

"Bolt is Naruto oji-chan's son."

Itachi's expression widened as he looked as Sasuke.

"Seriously?" Itachi said in disapproval.

"What?" Sasuke smirked.

Sarada looked at both of them confused.

"You know Sarada you look a lot like your grandmother. Like a little version of her, minus the glasses." Itachi said.

"Really?!" Sarada said her face beaming. "O bāchan was so beautiful!"

"That she was." Itachi said.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

"But Ino oji-chan tells me I look a lot like Karin oji-chan." Sarada said. "So much so that I might just be her daughter, right daddy?" Sarada said smiling at her father.

"Ino does that..umm..just to tease Sakura." Sasuke tried to cover up.

"But I'm glad that's not true. Or else I would be an Uzumaki like that Bolt. Urgh!" Sarada said making a disgusted face.

"Who is Karin?" Itachi asked confused.

"Daddy's eternal lover!" Sarada said.

Sasuke coughed uncontrollably. Itachi looked at Sasuke perplexed. 'What the hell is going on here' Itachi thought to himself.

They reached the training ground and Itachi guided them further inside. They reached a spot with a huge boulder in the center and dart boards placed on the trees surrounding it. One dart board placed ahead of the boulder.

Itachi left Sarada's hand and walked behind the boulder.

"I can't believe you." Sasuke said sighing as he looked around the familiar place.

"What?" Itachi asked.

"You got us here just to show off your shuriken skills, didn't you?" Sasuke asked looking at Itachi disapprovingly.

"Well at least I succeeded in showing off. Unlike someone else." Itachi said smirking as he pointed a kunai at Sasuke.

"What do you mean oji-san!" Sarada said grinning as she knew there was story behind that.

"Well your dad here tried to show off too, only to end up with a twisted ankle because of which I had to carry him home." Itachi narrated.

Sarada turned around and looked at Sasuke in disbelief her mouth and eyes wide open.

"I was six!" Sasuke said folding his hands defensively.

"tsk tsk tsk not cool daddy." Sarada said shaking her head in disappointment. "Oji-san can you really hit the center on the board?"

"Why don't we try? Stand back."

Sarada quietly complied.

Itachi took a deep breath and sprung himself in the air. He turned upside down and closed his eyes. His hands crossed his face, a kunai in between each finger. He flung his right hand letting go of one kunai at a time. He then flung his left hand with the kunais more forcefully making it swiftly cut the previous kunai mid air making them shift direction. Each kunai hit bull's eye of every board and Itachi made a gentle landing on the ground. He lifted his head, sharingan activated.

"Wow Oji-san you are so good! You even nailed the mark on the blind spot right in the middle!" Sarada said as she looked around. She ran towards the boards and grabbed the kunai. "Alright. Here I go!" she placed both her hands holding the kunai crossing her face.

"No, you are not going anywhere. Lets head back, it's almost time for lunch." Sasuke said.

"But…but we just reached! And I want to learn some shuriken moves from Oji-san!" Sarada said puffing up her face grumpily.

"I can teach you that later Sarada." Sasuke said.

"But oji-san is better at it. I may still be a kid but even I know that." She argued.

"Sarada." Sasuke said in a stern voice.

Sarada looked down pouting and looked at Itachi. He smiled at her sympathetically and waved his hand at her calling her towards him. She ran towards him as he held out two fingers which gently tapped her forehead.

"Sorry Sarada. Maybe next time." Itachi said as he smiled at her benevolently.

Sarada pouted and quickly returned to her stance, "Watch this Oji-san!" Sarada said as she raced ahead to throw the kunai.

"Sarada no! Not in that Kimino, you're not rea.." Sasuke tried to warn, but in no vain.

**xxx**

"This seems too uncanny. Deja-vu would be an understatement." Sasuke said as he watched his daughter gleefully swinging her legs while Itachi gave her a piggy back ride since she bruised her leg.

"Like Father like daughter." Itachi said with a smile. Sasuke scoffed in defeat.

**xxx**

"And what happened to you young lady?" Sakura said as she saw Sarada enter majestically on her uncle's back.

"She bruised her leg." Sasuke explained.

"What! How?" Sakura asked.

"Like father like daughter." Sarada said grinning.

"Sorry?" Sakura asked confused.

"I don't like how you are influencing her." Sasuke told Itachi, sighing.

"I will take her." Sakura said carrying her off Itachi's back.

Before Itachi could follow them Sasuke pulled him by the hand, "hmm nii-san, just do me a favor and not mention anything about Karin would you?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow with a smirk plastered on his face, "And why is that?"

"Just ..Sakura gets all paranoid just hearing her name." Sasuke explained.

"Umm well I'll think about it." Itachi said mischievously.

Sasuke sighed and started walking ahead, "Well you think hard, or else you won't get any cake to eat. It will all be smashed on my face."

Itachi gave out a laugh and walked behind Sasuke to join the other two.

"Well aren't you being treated like a princess." Sakura said as she placed Sarada on the table and examined her bruise. She placed her palm over the bruise and green soothing chakra gently healed the area. Itachi watched in astonishment.

"You are a medic Sakura?" Itachi asked.

"Hai." She said looking at Itachi.

"Impressive. That is one field I couldn't grab my head around." Itachi said. Sakura could feel her cheeks turning a faint pink.

"Mama is the head medic at the hospital! Ever since she replaced Tsunade O bāchan, you know.." Sarada hushed her voice. "..since the drinking problem."

"Sarada!" Sakura exclaimed disapprovingly.

"You were under Tsunade-sama's guidance?" Itachi asked.

"Hai. I was her apprentice." Sakura said.

"So the whole team turned out to be prodigies of the legendary sanin's." Itachi said. "Whatever was Kakashi-san doing?" Itachi asked baffled.

"Ichi Ichi Paradise!" Sarada yelped.

Sarada's remark was followed by an awkward silence in the room, Itachi could feel his cheeks heating all wandered off in different directions, while Sarada tried to understand what caused this reaction.

**xxx**

After lunch Itachi and Sarada were going through the photo albums together. Sarada was comfortably seated in between the space of her uncles folded legs. Itachi searched for a few albums but he was particularly interested in the pink album titled Team 7. Since he missed out on that part of Sasuke's life he wanted to make up for it. The first page he was expecting to have Team 7 photograph but to his surprise he could see photos of Sasuke.

"Umm when was this taken?" Itachi asked.

Sakura walked over to them and had a look at the said photo. It had Sasuke standing triumphantly after having thrown shuriken at a wood slab at a distance as other students watched on in awe.

"This was during our academy years. We must be 7-8 years old I guess." Sakura said smiling.

"Oh. How did you manage to take a photo? Were you allowed to carry camera then?" Itachi asked.

"Well umm I umm didn't particularly ask for permission." Sakura said laughing sheepishly. "How about we turn to more approved pictures? Huh? Okay let's do that." She continued laughing awkwardly.

Itachi was alarmed when she started flipping page after page with single shots of Sasuke which were probably taken without his knowledge, Sakura continuing to laugh hysterically. They finally reached the page with more appropriate photos. There it was, Team 7.

"This was our Team 7 photo." She said smiling and ran her hand over the photo to wipe off any dust. Sasuke walked in the room and made himself comfortable next to his family.

"What is with Naruto's face?" Itachi asked laughing.

"He wasn't pleased to be taking a photo with me and clearly I shared the feeling." Sasuke said.

"Here there is mom who would take your photo all the time and then there is this usuratonkachi." Sarada said weighing her head down and dramatically shaking it in exasperation.

They browsed through the other photos, one taken at The Great Naruto Bridge, one before and after every round of the Chunin exam, some during the final battle, the cat paw photo, one with an ostrich and many more. They slowly proceeded to the time where Sasuke was no more part of any photos. Some photos needed explanation while others were self-explanatory like a photo of Sai's painting of team 7 which Sasuke wasn't part of.

"He draws really well." Itachi complimented.

"Yeah he is quite the artist." Sakura added.

The last photo was of Naruto and Sasuke on their respective bed in the hospital, both missing an arm. With a smiling Sakura posing besides Sasuke wrapping her arms around his shoulder, while Sasuke made a frowned face. Sai was imitating Sakura's action too, only he was applying it on Naruto. Naruto was pushing off Sai's face as it was getting too close to his own, while Sai had a smile plastered on his face looking quite indifferent to Naruto's reaction. And there was Kakashi right at the center, in between the two beds unable to pick sides, laughing awkwardly with his hand scratching his head.

Itachi couldn't help but laugh at the photo. His eyes narrowed down to Naruto, 'The kid kept his promise. He saved his brother.' He thought shifting his eyes to Sasuke . A smile across his face.

**xxx**

It was early evening and Sakura was preparing for the get together which will be beginning in an about two hours. She called over relatives and all her friends along with their children all of whom were Sarada's age.

Meanwhile Itachi, Sasuke and Sarada went over to the lake where Sasuke was first taught to use the Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fireball Jutsu) by his father.

"This brings back memories." Sasuke said as they walked on the wooden walkway.

They reached the edge where Itachi looked at Sarada, "Your dad tells me you know the Goukakyuu no Jutsu?"

"Hmm well not entirely. Mom forbid Dad from teaching me any further ever since I was almost about to blow up the house." Sarada confessed.

"Can I have a look?" Itachi asked.

"I only know the hand signs. And I haven't tried using it besides once." Sarada said.

"Let me see." Itachi insisted.

"Well okay." Sarada walked ahead reluctantly while the other two stepped back a bit.

She made the hand signs snake – sheep – monkey – pig – horse – tiger, she then took a deep breath and exhaled a small ball of fire out of her mouth. She looked at the fire extinguishing quickly in disappointment. She wiped her mouth of any residue from the smoke and hesitantly looked at her dad. Sasuke gave a noble smile and looked over at Itachi for guidance.

"Well that was better than what Sasuke did for the first time." Itachi said.

"You didn't even teach me this!" Sasuke said defensively.

"Exactly my point." Itachi said, smirking. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Sarada you are only five so it will be hard for you to master it, but you are already doing better than Sasuke when he learned it at the age of seven. So firstly, never be disheartened. Secondly I'll teach you a trick." Itachi said kneeling down to reach her height.

Sarada looked at Itachi all bright eyed. Itachi looked at Sasuke and turned his head back to Sarada whispering in her ears, "Do not tell it to anyone okay? Not even your father."

Sarada giggled. Sasuke looked on with a raised eyebrow unable to hear Itachi.

"When you inhale you are taking the air only till your chest, instead take it all the way inside your belly." Itachi said as he breathed in and pointed at his puffed up stomach. "In that way you get much more air which you then push out with full force. And with practice you will learn to make the signs faster. Watch."

Itachi got up, weaved the signs with lightning fast speed, breathed in and demonstrated the jutsu. A huge fire cannonball heated up the surface of the lake. Sarada watched on wide eyed. "Amazing." she said under her breath.

"Why don't you try." Itachi said.

Sarada complied and did as she was told. The hand weaving signs were at the same speed but she breathed in all the way down her stomach and blew the air with full force. The fireball was reasonably bigger in size this time and Sarada was happy about it too.

"You are a fast learner. Now all you need to do is pester your dad to train you, how he would pester me." Itachi said winking at Sarada as she smiled on.

"Sarada!"

The trio looked back to notice Sakura calling out to them. She walked towards them.

"Sarada its time for you to come back home, don't you want to get ready before your friends come over?" Saying so Sakura lifted her hand so Sarada could grab it.

"Hai! Come oji-san." Sarada said lifting her hand for Itachi to hold.

"Hmm how about you two go ahead and we join you in sometime?" Itachi asked.

"But why.." Sarada said disappointment evident on her face.

"Sarada they will join us in sometime." Sakura said.

Itachi smiled and knelt down on his knees to reach Sarada's height and widened his arms. Sarada let go of Sakura's hand and embraced her uncle.

"You be good okay? I wish your grandparents could see how beautiful and talented you are, just like your parents." Saying so Itachi kissed Sarada's forehead. "That goes for you too Sakura, thank you for not giving up on Sasuke. I know how difficult he can get sometimes but you and Naruto always made sure you made up for the absence of family in his life. For that I can never thank you enough."

"Nii-san please…" Sakura started feeling a lump in her throat.

"Thankfully Sarada has gotten your beauty and brains. God alone knows what would happen if things would go the other way around." Itachi said trying to lighten the mood. "You both go on ahead, we will join you."

Sakura smiled and pulled Sarada by the hand and started to take their leave as Sasuke and Itachi watched on . Sarada looked around getting confused as to why they were having this talk here. But smart as she was she started getting a clue, she screamed out on the way "You will join us right oji-san?"

Itachi smiled and called her over, Sarada forced her hand out of her mother's grasp and rushed to Itachi. Itachi held out two fingers and gently tapped her forehead, "I love you."

Sarada cupped her forehead with her palm and said, "I love you too."

Itachi smiled and said, "Get going now, you don't want to be late."

"Hai!" Sarada said and rushed to her Mom.

The brothers waited till the ladies were out of sight and made themselves comfortable on the edge of the walkway. They watched the reflection of their feet on the clear blue water. The sun rays gently hit their face. They didn't speak for a minute as they enjoyed the view, until Sasuke finally broke the silence.

"It's time for you to go isn't it?" Sasuke said.

"Until sun set." Itachi confirmed.

Sasuke just responded with a deep breathe.

"I thought we could catch up with a few things before I leave." Itachi said.

"Hn."

"Most importantly I really want to know…"

Sasuke looked at Itachi in all seriousness.

Itachi continued, "…Why on earth did you name your child Salad?"

It took Sasuke a few minutes before he broke into a chuckle. "That's your most important question?"

"Well Mom is really upset, she said she took a lot more effort while naming us than picking out names from a restaurant menu."

"Your name means a weasel."

"So are you taking my revenge on your daughter?"

"Sarada is an unusual name."

"For a reason."

Sasuke looked at Itachi for a second before accepting defeat, "Touché."

Itachi smiled and looked back at the view, "But she is quite something. She will grow to be stronger and smarter than you and I."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed and continued, "So I didn't get a chance to ask, how are you here exactly?"

"Sage of Six paths."

"Aaa old man, thought so. So are you like residing in heaven or something? What's the afterlife like?"

"Yeah heaven. Just imagine my state having to go there to be greeted by the whole clan who are there thanks to me."

"Oh yeah."

"Not a good feeling. But thankfully over the years mom and dad made them understand the circumstances. 10 years was a long time for them to recuperate."

"So you settled down without any problems."

"Oh..oh no. When I went the first time after you defeated me, I wasn't allowed back in heaven. I was loitering around until Kabuto revived me."

"Loitering around? Why?"

"Yuki."

Sasuke frowned unable to recollect that name. Until it struck him, "Yuki-san! Your girlfriend!"

"Mom and dad could talk the whole clan into forgiving me, but Yuki found me killing her days before our anniversary to be a very unromantic gesture."

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh. "So what did you do?"

"Well when I was revived by Kabuto here on earth, back in heaven Shisui convinced her that I was asked to go to Hell since she wouldn't let me pass, so when I went back after the war she let me in. But it's pretty odd.."

"What is?"

"I mean I love her and everything but you know people don't age in heaven, so it's strange when a 21 year old is holding a 13 year olds hand."

"I can imagine."

"Trust me you can't."

After a hearty laugh, Sasuke continued, "So how did the Sage let you here."

"He acknowledged the sacrifices I made for the shinobi world and granted me a visit, I wanted to wait for the right moment. I was thinking Sarada's wedding but I couldn't take it anymore."

"So you guys get updates about everything here?"

"Yeah just the important news."

"Mom and Dad weren't upset with..me?"

"They were worried about you. They were upset with me, they left trusting I would take care of you. And I don't question their disappointment."

"Nii-san…"

"Sasuke I can't take back what I did or didn't do but I am proud about your final choices. But don't even for a minute think you did it alone. If it wasn't for your teammates I don't think you could make it this far."

Sasuke's silence was an indication that he agreed.

"No matter what you do don't ever forget that, and that you will never get anywhere doing things alone. You need people around. And you are lucky to have people like Sakura and Naruto who have stuck around for as long as they have even after everything you put them through. But you need to constantly remind yourself how lucky you are and also show the other person how much you appreciate it."

"I try.."

"Try harder. Sakura is a smart beautiful strong woman, she doesn't need you around. Yet she wants you around. Try reciprocating those feelings more, don't be so reserved."

Sasuke nodded and it suddenly struck him, "Wait it was you..you put the thought of me joining her in the bathroom! And fooling around with her before you came home!"

Itachi nodded triumphantly.

"No wonder I was being abnormally chirpy." Sasuke noticed.

"Well that's how it should be. I know your family and friends mean the world to you, I can see it. But you need to show it them too Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded.

"And one more thing, don't let Sarada kill Naruto's son." Itachi said in all seriousness.

Sasuke laughed looking at the worry on Itachi's face.

**xxx**

They watched the sun as it was about to set. The sky was filled with hues of orange and red merging itself with the fading blue. They watched the view in silence, before Sasuke could sense Itachi uncomfortably adjusting where he was seated.

"Time to go?" Sasuke asked.

"Almost. Before I do.." Itachi put both his hands under his ponytail and unlocked the necklace around his neck. "..I couldn't really get anything for Sarada for her birthday but maybe she will like this." Itachi said handing over the necklace that had three silver rings with red gems inside them. Sasuke dutifully held it in his right hand.

"You will have the necklace in your hand when you wake up. I carried you three to your room and placed you'll on your bed. Once the sun sets I will disappear and when you close your eyes the genjutsu will wear off, once you open them again you will get back to reality."

"Is there no way you can stay.." Sasuke pleaded.

"I am lucky enough to be given this opportunity, wouldn't want to piss off the God of shinobi now would I?" Itachi joked.

Sasuke just looked down in disappointment. Itachi gently poked Sasuke's forehead, making him look at Itachi wide eyed, "Forgive me Sasuke, hopefully next time."

The sun completely sunk into the horizon as the darkness filled the sky. Itachi slowly faded away with a smile on his face. Sasuke looked on at the empty space next to him and tried hard to hold a brave face. Hot tears rolled down his face involuntarily. He slowly closed his eyes.

**xxx**

_Sasuke opened his eyes, blinking a few times to try and adjust with the brightness of the morning. His eyes met with the ceiling fan rotating slowly. He looked around, it was their room and Sarada was sleeping next to him with Sakura on her side. He could feel the dried trail of tear from the corner of his eyes. _

_Slowly Sakura and Sarada both opened their eyes. Sarada looked around and rubbed her eyes, it took her a few seconds to fathom where she was. _

_Sasuke looked at Sarada and smiled, "Happy Birthday my angel." He said and kissed her forehead._

_Sakura looked at Sarada and kissed her cheek, "Happy birthday baby."_

_Sarada smiled and looked at Sasuke, "Daddy I had the most amazing dream!"_

"_Really what happened?" Sasuke asked trying to act oblivious. Sakura smiled at the excitement Sarada was showing._

"_Itachi oji-san was here! On my birthday! He came home after his mission and had breakfast with us and and he showed me his shuriken moves. Daddy you were right he is the best shinobi in the world. He is so good! And and he carried me home when I fell down.."_

_Sakura's smiling face was slowly turning into a frown, she found it strange that they both had the exact same dream._

"_..and and we had lunch and then we checked the photo albums and then he taught me Goukakyuu no Jutsu and told me a trick..but I can't tell you what it is. And and then.." her face turned into a pout, "and then he said he will come home for the party but then I woke up." _

"_Well looks like you got to spend an entire day with him." Sasuke said. _

"_And he said I looked like __O bāchan." Sarada said her cheeks turning a faint pink. _

"_That you do." Sasuke said and kissed her head._

_Sakura looked at Sasuke. Sasuke blinked his eyes and shook his head to confirm her suspicion. Her eyes grew wide and she smiled. Sasuke got closed to her and kissed her forehead. Sakura recollected the words Itachi told her and her eyes were beginning to water at the thought. She quickly put on a brave face, not wanting to cry in front of Sarada and got up. _

"_Come on Sarada, let's freshen you up." Sakura said. Sarada got off the bed and joined her mom in the bathroom._

_Sasuke looked at them walk away and after the bathroom door shut he got his clenched right hand in front of his face. He slowly relaxed it and opened his hand. The necklace shone brightly as the light hit the gem in the center. Sasuke smiled looking at it, as a hushed "Thank you" escaped his lips._

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><p><strong>A.N : Wow that was a LONG chapter! I have to be honest here it took me forever to write this, I had to be so careful to keep Itachi in character which was so difficult to do because here is a fun fact : Itachi has never had one comical moment ever in the entire manga. Not one! Unless you consider shoving a crow inside Naruto's mouth funny, Itachi had no funny moments. So how do I get humor is this story when Itachi is the most humble sweetheart there is, well I tried. I know it wasn't ROFL kinda humor but this is the best I could do if I had to keep him in character.<strong>

**I did so much research for this chapter! I literally re-read the entire manga hoping I would find something somewhere to make this chapter convincing. And I sincerely hope it paid off.**

**Now here are a few facts that I have used in the chapter;**

**1. Itachi being able to caste a genjutsu with just his finger - Chapter 259 : Itachi's Power : Page 6**

**2. Itachi had a girlfriend (Who I named Yuki which means snow in Japanese – cute ne?) - Chapter 401: Illusion : Page 11.**

**I hope you realized story typed in Italic is reality and typed normally is when they are caste in the genjutsu.**

**Just a poll: If the same 'visit from the dead' scenario were to happen with the Uzumaki's who would you prefer paid a visit:**

**1. Minato and Kushina**

**2. Jiraiya**

**3. Neji**

**Do let me know!**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter and it wasn't confusing. Do share your thoughts, views, recommendations. I will sincerely appreciate it!**

**Also enough of the Uchiha's! Next chapter the Uzumaki's take over! Dattebayo!**

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><p><span><em><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>_


	6. Letters to my Valentine

Yo! I had promised a **BONUS** chapter at the end of the third chapter, and here it is! It is sidelining the current story line but it is still canon. It covers Sasuke's road to redemption phase. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>** : I do not own Naruto.**

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><p><span><strong>Road to Parenthood : Letters to my Valentine<strong>

The war had finally come to an end and Sasuke was biding his adieu to team 7, until they meet next after he returns from his redemption travel. Sasuke promised Sakura that he would reply to her letters to the best of his ability.

Before Sasuke left, he mentioned he would first visit Kumogakure to apologize and mend his ways with the village for his attempt to capture the eight tails and having to kill KillerB in the process.

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><p>December 2nd<p>

_Dear Sasuke–kun,_

_Hoping you must have reached Kumogakure by now. How was the journey? Did you have any problems reaching? Are you coping with just your right hand? How is the weather there? _

_Naruto has specifically asked KillerB to escort you around the village so you don't feel out of place. Please address any issues to him, he will help you out. Naruto also asked me to mention KillerB will need a favor in return for escorting you around which you need to fulfill. Please cooperate with whatever it will be. _

_If you feel uneasy without an arm let me know anytime, I will come there right away with your prostate hand. It is with me safely at my home waiting for you. _

_Lots of Love, _

_Sakura._

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><p>December 5th<p>

_Dear Sasuke–kun,_

_I will wait until tomorrow for you to respond, if you do not I will assume you have been captured by Orochimaru again and come to rescue you. _

_Worried, _

_Sakura._

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><p>December 6th<p>

_Sakura,_

_I left on the 1__st__ of December and reached by 6__th__ as planned. Writing to me the very next day was unnecessary. _

_I am currently residing at the Raikage's resident. _

_I would prefer you not having my future hand with you at all times. I would like it to not be used, by you, in any way. _

_And for the last time, I am no longer associated with Orochimaru. _

_-Sasuke._

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><p>December 7th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_I received your letter right on time. Though I am happy you have reached safely, I had to unpack my bag with a heavy heart. You seemed to have skipped replying to my questions. Is it that you were too excited to write back to me that caused you to overlook it? _

_As for your hand, do not worry. I am giving it good company until you get back. _

_About Orochimaru, we found him loitering around the village. The council is in talks about hiring him as a sensei in the academy. I am not so sure about hiring a pedophile as a teacher will do us any good but I have been asked to take a survey from you and Anko sensei about his credentials as a teacher. Would you recommend him as a teacher? _

_Lots of love, _

_Sakura._

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><p>December 10th<p>

_Sakura,_

_My response is underlined._

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_I received your letter right on time. Though I am happy you have reached safely, I had to unpack my bag with a heavy heart. You seemed to have skipped replying to my questions. Is it that you were too excited to write back to me that caused you to overlook it? _– _No._

_As for your hand, do not worry. I am giving it good company until you get back. __– My concern precisely. _

_About Orochimaru, we found him loitering around the village. The council is in talks about hiring him as a sensei in the academy. I am not so sure about hiring a pedophile as a teacher will do us any good but I have been asked to take a survey from you and Anko sensei about his credentials as a teacher. Would you recommend him as a teacher? __– If moistening your lips constantly with your tongue when a student arrives is considered qualifiable then yes. Otherwise, no._

_Lots of love, Sakura._

_- Sasuke._

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><p>December 11th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Though you responding through my letter itself is clever, I was hoping we could move beyond just Yes, No and one line responses?_

_Hopeful,_

_Sakura._

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><p>December 14th<p>

_Sakura,_

_Hn._

_-Sasuke._

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><p>December 15th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Just one line responses would be fine too. _

_We have received a notification from __Kumogakure that you aren't staying alone and that three other occupants have joined you. Namely Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo. Could you please deny this rumor?_

_From,_

_Sakura_

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><p>December 16th<p>

_Sakura,_

_Yes they joined me. I considered it since they were also involved in capturing the eight tails and would like to apologize too._

_-Sasuke_

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><p>December 17th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Konoha is skeptical about letting you visit other villages with immigrants such as your former team mates. Please reconsider it. _

_From,_

_Sakura_

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><p>December 18th<p>

_Sakura,_

_How does this concern them?_

_-Sasuke_

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><p>December 19th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_IT CONCERNS ME! I know how four eyes looks at you! And not to mention she is a pathological liar, you can't trust a word that comes out of her mouth Sasuke-kun. She can potentially lead you into trouble._

_Concerned,_

_Sakura._

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><p>December 20th<p>

_Dear Billboard Brow!_

_Yeah that's right I researched on you too! If I were you I would stop embarrassing myself with such pathetic attempts to steer away Sasuke from me. He didn't even care enough to reply back to your letter and just tossed it to me. How sad. _

_Yours truly,_

_Karin._

_P.S – Guess who has been sharing the same bed with Sasuke in this cold cozy weather?_

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><p>December 21st<p>

_Dear Four Eyes,_

_I was informed that like Naruto you too are a Uzumaki. So that would mean you and Naruto are related? And since Sasuke-kun considers Naruto as his brother, that would make you Sasuke-kun's…sister? You could say that don't you think?_

_Your soon to be sister-in –law,_

_Sakura._

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><p>December 22nd<p>

_Dear Bitch face,_

_Bite me._

_-Karin_

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><p>December 23rd<p>

_Dear Karin nee-chan,_

_Not sure if 'bite me' was trash talking or is it a genuine offer? Can't be sure when it comes to you._

_Now you would be doing me a huge favor if you could do just stop hiding the letters from Sasuke-kun. Much appreciated._

_Lots of love,_

_Sakura._

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><p>December 24th<p>

_Sakura,_

_Suigetsu shares the same feelings as you. I am safe. _

_-Sasuke_

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><p>December 25th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_MERRY CHRISTMAS! I wish you could be with us right now. The village looks beautiful at this time. We transformed into Santa's and delivered gifts to every house! Though Naruto fell off the chimney in one of the houses and his Henge wore off ruining the whole plan! Weirdly when kids realized it wasn't Santa but Naruto they seemed to be even happier. He is bombarded with gifts and surrounded by girls now. It's so strange to see, our Naruto is popular now. In all this mayhem poor Hinata is being ignored. She has been knitting him a scarf for the longest time now. Such is love. I'm so glad we aren't like that, ne Sasuke-kun?_

_Yours always,_

_Sakura._

_P.S – Naruto said he will be sending a letter to you too._

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><p>December 26th<p>

_Sakura,_

_Who is Hinata?_

_-Sasuke_

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><p>December 26th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_How have you been? I miss you terribly. Why do you keep doing this to me? Why do you keep leaving me? Why do you insist on hurting me so? Oh Sasuke-chan! Come back to me! However I know you want to travel the world, as always I understand you. More than stupid Sakura! I will be waiting for you, the space in my heart is saved just for you. Okay?_

_Merry Christmas my love._

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Naruto._

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><p>December 27th<p>

_Naruto,_

_Okay._

_-Sasuke._

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><p>December 28th<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Hyuga Hinata was one of the rookie nine. She was part of team 8? Along with Kiba and Shino, remember them? Kiba had a dog Akamaru? He called you a bastard when you returned back to help with the war. Shino is the one with the insects? He says it isn't very polite to not remember your classmates, that is because they risked their lives to save you from Orochimaru. _

_Also Naruto says the letter you received wasn't written by him, it was Kiba. And also Naruto says he is worried about the enthusiastic okay. _

_How did you celebrate Christmas? _

_Much love,_

_Sakura._

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><p>December 30th<p>

_Sakura,_

_Don't remember them. Send my apologies to Shino. And Kiba has a rather unpleasant sense of humor._

_Kumogakure had their annual Christmas skit. KillerB was the script writer and director, the entire skit was in raps. I played Joseph, Karin was Mary, Jugo played Jesus and Suigetsu played a rapper sheep. This was the favor KillerB had mentioned to Naruto, as promised I dutifully complied. Not to mention, we got a standing ovation. My performance was well acclaimed. They offered me the role for life since I play a father very convincingly. It was a good Christmas._

_-Sasuke._

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><p>December 31st<p>

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_Wow, I am so impressed! I'm sure you fit in the role of a father perfectly! I have always known. And I think you meant Karin played Virgin Mary. _

_I am glad you had a good Christmas. How long are you going to be at Kumogakure? It has been a month since you left. I miss you._

_It is New Year's Eve today. What would be your resolution for the next year Sasuke-kun? I have made a resolution of my own. Would you like to guess? _

_Ino has a party at her place tonight, not sure if I will be attending. If only you were here._

_Tonight at 12 when we release the sky lantern I will think of you._

_Happy New Year Sasuke-kun._

_God bless you,_

_Sakura._

_P.S – Naruto asked me to attach his letter with mine so it doesn't get infiltrated._

**_xxx_**

_Sasuke-teme!_

_Hasn't your world tour ended already! KillerB is with you all the time isn't he? He is a cool guy, just need to break into his comfort zone. Try rapping. It worked for me. But I was natural at it! You should have trained from me before leaving-ttebayo. Also give KillerB a fist bump for me, would you._

_Sakura-chan tells me your former team mates are with you? Even that red head? Sakura-chan isn't very pleased about that-ttebayo. She says she is fine but the bruise on my face would beg to differ. Why do I still get hit for your actions?_

_I hope everything is fine there, if you need anything I'm just a letter away. Sakura-chan misses you so come back home soon you bastard! _

_Anyways Happy New Year Teme. Come home soon. _

_-Naruto._

_P.S : Since you aren't here, should I fill in for you for the new year's midnight kiss with Sakura-chan? After all what are best friends for, ne Sasuke?_

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><p><strong>A.N : I'm back! so what do you think? Did you like it? Hate it? I would really like to hear from your guys for this chapter, would you like me to post such Bonus chapters? Would you like me to make a completely story in this pattern? <strong>

**I would really appreciate you guys reviewing for this chapter and letting me know your thoughts! Is it awesome, okay, horrible? TELL ME! *crazy eyes***

**Much appreciated. **

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><p><span><em><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>_


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